THE ICE. 249 



occur only partially and in altered shape. To begin 

 with, true liquefaction to any considerable extent is all 

 but entirely absent in the Antarctic regions. In South 

 Georgia certainly the Snow Line is somewhat high ; on 

 the summits of the north coast, which attain a height 

 of 2,500 feet, the snow wholly disappears, and on the 

 Ross glacier the limit of the " Firn," but not of the 

 Snow Line, is at an elevation of 1,150 feet. But only 

 a few degrees farther south, viz., on the northern 

 extremity of the South Shetland Isles, we find a con- 

 siderable depression of the Snow Line, although the 

 observations needful to determine its position with full 

 accuracy are still wanting ; Larsen found on Livingston 

 Island that in the latter half of the month of December 

 the Snow Line was at 100 feet above the level of the 

 sea ; no doubt in February it would be somewhat higher. 

 There are also bare places on lofty mountains, and on 

 steep descents farther south, but this is due to orographic, 

 not to climatic causes. As for the Snow Line south of 

 Bransfield Strait, or of Bismarck Strait, and in Enderby 

 Land, Wilkes Land and Victoria Land, it is impossible 

 to say with absolute certainty that it is at the level of 

 the sea, since Cape Adare shows that even flat land or 

 slopes but slightly inclined may wholly lose their snow 

 covering. Where the coast is covered on all sides with 

 inland ice descending from great heights, there may still 

 be some spots protected against that ice, where the 

 summer sun may under circumstances succeed in removing 

 the coat of snow up to a certain height. Such phenomena 

 are, however, exceptional, and cannot affect the total im- 

 press of the Antarctic regions. It may be accepted as 

 a general statement, that with the exception of South 

 Georgia, the South Sandwich Isles, the South Orkney 

 Isles, and the South Shetland Isles, the Snow Line in 

 the Antarctic regions seems to coincide with the level 

 -of the sea, and that in consequence outside these islands 



